


A Blackbird’s Tail

by B_Radley



Series: Rarities [6]
Category: Star War: The Clone Wars
Genre: Chaos (also known as Raze), Clonetrooper training, Explosions, Gen, Teacher As Student, Togruta Hunt Culture, small rodents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-13 15:18:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12986832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/B_Radley/pseuds/B_Radley
Summary: The Blackbirds embark on a training mission. It doesn’t go as planned, except for their Lieutenant and their prey.





	A Blackbird’s Tail

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SLWalker](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SLWalker/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Blackbirds: Year One](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11036421) by [SLWalker](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SLWalker/pseuds/SLWalker). 



> From a prompt by SL Walker, to play in the Blackbirds: Year One/Witness Me universe. Thank you for letting me play. All mistakes are mine.

Maul watches as Shiv moves forward quietly, his visor fixed on the ridgeline ahead, but swiveling with the awareness of an experienced trooper on his surroundings. He motions Six and Eight to leapfrog him and advance to the base of the elevation near a narrow line snaking up the side that can barely be called a hill.

Maul’s eyes narrow as he detects a shift in the Force. His lip quirks up on one side as he can see, hear, or smell nothing that indicates any further disturbance.

Maul looks around at the rest of the Blackbirds. Most have their eyes on the trail ahead and their brothers moving cautiously to the beginning of the trail. Only Husker and Tally appear to have their heads on a swivel, checking all angles, as Shiv does. Maul rolls his eyes. _Well, not quite all of the angles._ Raze is checking his right, but appears to be locked on one of the small rodents that swarm over this training reserve. Rodents with large bushy tails and a propensity for getting underfoot, trying to scavenge for any scraps of food.

Or beg for food. They apparently have come into contact with soft-hearted infantry troopers who are not above sharing their rations.

Shiv sends the next two, Husker and Smarty up the ridge. Maul shakes his head slightly, and the other side of his mouth rises in a semblance of a full smile as he knows what comes next. The smile takes on a rueful quality as he forces himself not to intervene.

There is a slight sound of rustling and an orange blur bursts from the trees. Small booted feet land on Six’s shoulders, popping him with a stun stave at the junction of bucket and plastoid.

The figure continues to step onto Eight, who had bunched up to close to his batch-mate. As usual.

Eight collapses onto said batch-mate, both twitching from the stun charge.

To his credit, Shiv manages to form Husker, Castle, Smarty, and Misty into a square, while directing the rest to form a covering circle to their rear.

The orange blur can be seen dodging from tree to tree.

Maul nods approvingly at Shiv’s next commands. “Fire discipline! Don’t hose it around.”

The command comes too late for Smarty and Misty, as their bolts are deflected back to them.

Bolts that activate the kill receivers in their helmets, much like the wraith’s stave had.

He hears a yell as his child of chaos turns and runs from the covering circle to the front. He switches his rifle to his left hand and winds up his right.

Maul’s teeth clinch as he sees a spherical object streaking towards the tree line. He begins to move backwards, rapidly.

The trees are preternaturally silent as Shiv, Husker, and Castle cease fire.

A muffled crack is heard. As if metal is striking metal.

Maul winces as the spherical object drops arcs from the trees. He sees the squad’s collective eyes track the object.

Their eyes track it to drop right in the middle of their group.

The initial syllables of a certain couple of words, beginning with ‘Oh—‘ can be heard.

Just before the object explodes with paint and stunning energy.

The rest of the squad drops in a bright green heap.

Idly, Maul wonders who had packed the stunball with the fluorescent green paint.

He shakes his head. He waits patiently for the stun charges to wear off.

The groans of recovery start quickly. Shiv is the first up. He pulls his bucket off and is about to speak.

Husker beats him to it. “Okay, Lieutenant. What the hell was that?”

Maul merely stares at him, his yellow eyes calm.

Maul moves his eyes over the Sergeant’s shoulder. By this time the others are crawling up to their hands and knees and looking in that direction.

A much slower, tiny orange figure, with white highlights on her impossibly young face, saunters out from the woods. The stun stave rests on her skinny shoulder.

Her overlarge blue eyes gaze at them, the beginnings of a cutting expression that can only be termed a capital smirk forming on her features.

She stops a meter or so from the pile. The stave comes off her shoulder and tucks under her arm with a flourish.

She looks at Maul.

“A little less gloating, Commander, if you please,” he says dryly.

For an instant, a look of uncertainty crosses over her features. She grins, a slight baring of her sharp teeth sending Six and Eight crabbing back away from her.

The Blackbirds turn towards him, expecting the worst. Shiv merely smiles.

“Well, gentlemen,” he says quietly. “Let me have what you saw was wrong with that little performance?”

“I thought that we weren’t supposed to come up against Force-users,” Husker says.

Maul shows his teeth in a slight grin of his own. The teeth vanish just as quickly as they appeared. “You didn’t,” he says. “Commander Tano did not use the Force. Not once.”

Shive raises his eyebrows at that. “Then how did she track us, sir?” he asks.

“See those teeth on her head? Commander Tano is a blooded huntress on her world. She took those teeth from an apex predator on Shili. Aside from a skilled opponent facing you and stalking you, what did you see wrong with your performance?”

Six speaks up next. “Six and I bunched up, too much, again. Made it easier for her to get both of us.” Shiv nods approvingly.

“We weren’t watching in all directions. She got around us,” says Husker in his raspy, damaged voice.

“You were, Husker,” Maul says. His eyes light on Raze. “What distracted you, Raze?” he asks pointedly.

The demo expert looks away. He points to one of the small animals, watching the briefing curiously.

“The last thing is, if you had maintained discipline and lessened your desire to blow things up, one of you would’ve gotten the Commander. You showed good fire discipline, up until she batted the stunball back to you.”

He sees Commander Tano open her mouth as if to dispute that, but closes it at his look.

“All in all, some valuable lessons. Some things to build on before our training exercise with Aggressor forces.” He pauses for a moment. “I realize that I threw you some curves, but our missions will have the propensity for being asymmetrical. I thought we could take advantage of the fact that Commander Tano has just gotten back from a campaign with a Republic Commando unit, as well as her skills in the hunt.”

He stops again, as if an idea has appeared on the horizon before him. His face morphs into an expression reminiscent of their tormentor.

He fixes his gaze again on Raze. “Since you were so interested in them, I think that I will call Tango off with our resupply. I think that you all need extra survival training. Commander Tano will take over from here.”

He nods to Ahsoka. Without hesitation, she snatches one of the small rodents from the ground. In one swift motion, she brings the animal to her lips.

Maul watches his squad, veteran and shiny alike look away in horror at the carnivore.

He snatches the other half of the rodent out of the air where she had thrown it at him. Her blue eyes flash at him challengingly.

He brings it to his mouth, suppressing his revulsion as he thinks of where the rodent had been. He will not let the Padawan’s challenge go unanswered. He hears Brody speak. “Great. We have two nutjobs. Or at least one and a half.”

“No. Not really,” Tally says, running his hand over the cross cut into his hair. “The half will be going back to the 501st. She’ll be Rex’s problem.”

Maul watches as Tano seizes their attention with a look and a another baring of her sharp canines. This time with more of the teeth showing to the squad. Canines that are a trifle messy.

“Come on, boys. Everybody has to get one. Who’s up for cooking them?”

Brody pulls out his datapad and begins scrolling. She rolls her eyes.

“We don’t need recipes, Brody,” she says acerbically. “You just need fire.”

Maul watches with amusement as his well-trained squad of lifetakers begins a mad scramble.

He sees Raze stop a sly look playing over his features. Maul watches, his eyes narrowed as Raze pulls a small incendiary device from his pouch. As the activation pulse on the device chimes, Maul wonders what Raze is thinking.

_Probably about how well their dinner’s tail will look on his bucket._


End file.
